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I am now a writer for AbleGamers. This is a big opportunity for me, I am very excited about being part of a great site. Thanks Mark for thinking of me. Look forward to my first article very soon.

DGAMER is not going away, there are just going to be some changes to the site. I am still planning on doing “The DGAMER WEB SHOW” but the good thing is that I will be able to devote more time to it now. Another thing, Ask Dis will still be part of the site. Expect other changes though. All of this, is for the greater good.

Want to play the latest high-end PC games on your TV, PC or Mac, instantly? Well, this winter you will be able to. A company called OnLive is trying to change PC gaming as we know it. What is it? It’s a tiny device that streams games straight to you through your broadband internet connection. All you need is the Onlive console and a subscription, then you are ready to play. Which means, no more having to upgrade that pesky PC.

HOW IT WORKS:

OnLive takes the hassle out of PC gaming. All of the action happens elsewhere, OnLive runs the games on their own servers. They handle everything from installation on their own hard drives, drivers, compatibility to, well, you name it. I understand that their hardware is more powerful than any existing console on the market. Every six months they will upgrade to keep up with today’s hardware changes.All of this makes it easier than ever before.

Plug and play

Just plug the OnLive Mini-Console into your TV, PC or Mac and begin playing. Oh, and your broadband connection, this is one of the most important parts. Anyway, playing a game is instant, all you need to do is select the game demo or the full game and that’s it. Downloads are at blazing speeds, OnLive is supposed to be faster than anything that we’ve ever seen before. No more waiting, YAY!

THE HARDWARE:

The OnLive console is small enough to fit in your pocket. Which makes it very easy to take anywhere. It has two USB ports, that will support a keyboard and mouse if you choose, or any controller that you desire. A Micro-USB power in, Video/Audio out, an Ethernet port, S/PDIF optical out and is able to use up to four wireless controllers and four bluetooth headsets. There is also a Wireless pairing button and comes with it’s own wireless gamepad, similar to the Xbox 360’s controller.

The controllers layout is the same as an Xbox 360’s gamepad, as I said before. There is a button that lets you capture Brag Clips, these are clips of your best gaming moments to show off to others. Plus, there are buttons for media controls. The best thing is being able to use your own controller. It says any controller will work, so, I’m guessing that this will include accessible ones too. If not, maybe and hopefully they will install drivers for that device, if yours requires one. They say that the controls work by, “instantly sending your controller actions upstream and the results back downstream at blinding fast speeds”.

I also mentioned being able to use a keyboard and mouse. This gives you even more control options, you should be able to set your own keyboard, mouse and controller mappings.

ACCESSIBILITY:

This new service is not going to make any achievments in accessibily, like the other consoles. You must admit, it is a cool idea. If we can stay on OnLive, I mean bug the heck out of them until they give in, maybe they will design accessible devices for us. Getting them and everyone else to consider accessibility is always a good idea. I will look deeper into the company and get more information. Hopefully, I can get an interview with someone and talk to them about this issue.

CONCLUSION:

I am looking forward to trying it out, the idea is really cool and interesting. The OnLive service looks to be viable and promising. At the moment, there is no pricing information for the OnLive Mini-Console, or, what the monthly subscription is going to cost. We will know later down the road on that. The release date is going to be this Winter, could it be Christmas? Who knows. They haven’t even begun Beta Testing with the public yet. If you would like to try to become a Beta Tester, just go here.

Wow… The site is giving me a headache right now. I am going to release the site without all the special features for now. I will just push that back to a later date but it will be done soon, or, if I keep having problems it will be eventually. Anyway, I just have a few pages to finish and then I will publish it.

I am still in the process of designing the logo but I can’t decide on what it should look like. If you have any ideas, please, let me know. Any help is greatly appreciated.

It’s that time of the year, yep, I’m talking about the GDC (Game Developers Conference). From what it sounds, this is going to be a promising year for accessible gaming. If I were there I would keep all of you up to date on all of the happenings but good news, someone is. Just go over to AbleGamers for updates of the GDC. Michelle Hinn and Mark Barlet are letting us know what they are up to, These are two great people trying to help us PWD’s get in the games. Good luck guys and have fun!!!

Today is the release of Mass Effect for the PC. The game has been available for the Xbox 360 since November of ’07. I will be downloading my copy ASAP, when I’m finished playing I will give you my opinion of the game as always.

I am thinking about getting Age Of Conan: Hyborian Adventures but I am still undecided. If they had a trial it would be great, then it would make it easier to decide. World Of Warcraft doesn’t really do anything for me, I just can’t get into it. As I said before, I used to play Star Wars Galaxies but the developers have turned the game into crap. If you have ever played it then you know what I am talking about. Anyway, I will wait just a little longer.

The NIA was supposed to be released this week but guess what? It’s not going to be, isn’t that a shocker. What I was told is that it is being pushed back to around May 9th. I guess this means more waiting, I hope that OCZ Technology doesn’t keep pushing and pushing it back.

If any of you have never played Assassin’s Creed, I recommend that you give it a try. I know that some of you can’t play it on a console even with the Accessible Controllers that are offered. Now that it is on the PC you have more options to play. This game is beautiful, exciting, fun and has a great storyline. Yes, there are some issues with the game. There are two issues that I wanted to discuss. First, is the outrages system requirements. The games minimum requirements are a Dual core processor 2.6 GHz Intel® Pentium® D or AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 3800+, 1 GB of RAM for Windows Xp / 2 GB of RAM for Windows Vista and a 256 MB DirectX® 10.0–compliant video card or DirectX 9.0–compliant card with Shader Model 3.0 or higher (NVIDIA GeForce 6800+ / ATI Radeon X1600+). I played the game on my laptop that doesn’t have a Dual core processor but the funny thing is, that it passed the requirements test. The only thing that didn’t pass was the mother board. There is a little slowdown in parts of the game when I max out the graphics but it isn’t enough to make it too make it a big deal while playing. The other is the fighting system, which for me is too easy. It’s pretty much target, wait for them to attack then counter attack by pressing a mouse button. This is great in terms of Accessibility, it should be more difficult for my taste. The game is still fun and has an ending that will keep you wanting more.

Well, I talked to someone at OCZ yesterday. I didn’t get a definite release date for the NIA, which is what I, and probably you expected. All I was told is that it could be available in the next couple to a few months. They were being very wishy-washy on giving me a straight answer. I will keep you updated on news as it becomes available. I did find the NIA on a Canadian web site called, Everbest Computer and at Amazon.co.uk. I haven’t seen it on a U.S. site yet but should soon.

Another update on the (NIA), It is now available for pre-order in the UK. At Play.com, they have a release date of April 21st. I understand that OCZ is aiming to have the first batch in stock in about 2 weeks but the date from Play.com could be the closest for the release. I finally got a call back from OCZ and guess what? I missed it, LOL. I will return their call today and find out when we get it in the U.S.?